Work from office resumes in 35% companies after 2-year gap, shows survey

04 August 2022

Work from office resumes in 35% companies after 2-year gap, shows survey

  • Business Today

The pandemic – work from home spell may finally be coming to an end for employees of tech-based companies. A Colliers-Awfis survey has revealed that around 35 per cent companies have already witnessed a return of around 75-100 per cent employees back to office. The return to office, includes hybrid modes of work where employees come to work for a few days in a week.

An ebb in COVID-19 cases has helped building confidence in people to return to work.  At the same time, about 74 per cent of the occupiers are looking towards distributed workspaces as a strategy to shift from location-centric to people-centric workspaces.

This will enable flexibility to employees while furthering productivity gains for businesses.

The Colliers-Awfis joint report explores the status of return to work across different sectors. It delves into how occupiers are likely to choose distributed workspaces and devise flex space strategies by understanding their current usage patterns and preferences.

According to the report, telecom and consulting saw around 75-100 per cent return to office while IT and New Technology saw around 25 per cent return to work trend. Among the workplaces which are witnessing a return to work, around 74 per cent are likely to adopt distributed workspaces while around 53 per cent prefer working in the hybrid format. Additionally, about 49 per cent occupiers are likely to adopt flex-centres to enable distributed workspace, followed by setting up their own offices in metro and non-metro cities.

“The survey reveals that as occupiers straddle business goals and employee wellbeing together, about 74 per cent occupiers are looking at distributed workspace, and more than half of the IT/ITeS companies prefer a distributed work model for their employees. Therefore, we can see opportunities for flex spaces not only in metro cities but also in non-metro cities. In fact, in non-metro cities, total flex spaces are likely to grow more than two-fold to 5.5 million sq feet by the end of 2022.” said Ramesh Nair, CEO – India, Colliers, said.

Amit Ramani, Founder and CEO, Awfis said, “The findings of the survey are a testament to the success of the distributed work model and subsequently of flex spaces in catering to the ever-evolved workspace needs of India Inc. The survey unveils that currently 74 per cent occupiers have adopted flex centres for their workspace needs given the multiple benefits associated with flex working. Going forward, 77 per cent occupiers will include flex spaces as part of their workplace strategy. We expect exceptional demand in the future, driven largely by large corporates for de-densification of existing traditional offices.”

“Keeping employee centricity at the forefront, 79 per cent of the occupiers feel that distributed workplace strategy will be highly beneficial to save time and money. Additionally, work-life balance, mental wellbeing and team productivity are fueled when opting for flex spaces,” said Sumit Lakhani, Deputy CEO, Awfis.

This story appeared in the 4 August, 2022 issue of Business Today and was originally published at: Work from office resumes in 35% companies after 2-year gap, shows survey

Co-working spaces are leading the race for sustainability in real estate

15 June 2022

Co-working spaces are leading the race for sustainability in real estate

  • Posted by Awfis Editorial

While traditional workspaces are doing their bit in saving the planet, co-working spaces are not too far behind. From the future of work to the future of sustainability, co-working spaces have the potential to unravel the problem of sustainability in real estate.

In a post-pandemic reality, as we move toward normalcy, sustainability has come to the forefront as governments, investors and built environment stakeholders, consider how to build a better future for generations.

In an evolved reality, businesses have undergone significant changes with externalities such as climate change, finite resource availability, and changing stakeholder expectations. However, with the evolving landscape, the yardstick for business success has considerably shifted from short-term profitability to long-term sustainability for stakeholders. Recently, there has been a boost in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors being regarded and incorporated into commercial real estate transactions. Whether we look at investors or occupiers, it is evident that demand for more sustainable practices and structures is rocketing. Seeing this growing awareness and demand for eco-friendly products & services, ESG has become a key element of decision for corporate occupiers, employees as well as investors in commercial real estate too.

Talking about offices, the concept of ‘green workspace’ will soon become a standard rather than an exception. While traditional workspaces are doing their bit in saving the planet, let us look at how co-working and shared office spaces hold on to the more profound significance of sustainability. From the future of work to the future of sustainability, co-working spaces have the potential to unravel these problems.

Shared use of resources

Being a co-working space, it is a shared workspace for multiple organizations, businesses and individuals. These flexi spaces possess a huge potential to support environmental sustainability due to their inherently sharing-oriented composition. At their core, they support the sharing of space, supplies and other resources, thereby cutting down on basic wastefulness. Compared to a traditional office, co-working spaces offer common utilities to all workers from different field or companies, like a printer, coffee machine, etc. Not only is this cost-effective, but it also sends less waste to the landfills & results in less electricity consumption. Had there been no coworking spaces, these businesses would have been operating out of their different offices thereby increasing the usage of space and land.

Energy efficient travel
Commuting to independent offices can prove to be a hassle as employees from different corners of a city travel to these conventional office spaces which are generally located in a commercial district. Since co-working spaces have a vast network and are present at multiple prime locations, it is easily accessible to employees through a short distance commute. This not only helps them save time and money spent on travelling but from a sustainability point of view helps in reducing pollution generation and carbon footprint.

Integration of tech
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused businesses to be more reliant on technology than ever before. Apart from being equipped with natural lighting, greenery and open space, flex spaces are opting for intelligent LED lighting which uses much less power and has a considerably longer lifetime. Shared workspaces are optimizing energy usage by changing the lighting & ventilation design to reduce energy consumption per unit. With use of advanced building design software, coworking spaces are leveraging the opportunity for smart, data-driven decisions within every element of design and construction, from glass curtain wall detailing, to implementing natural daylighting strategies, to prefabrications, raw material procurement and so on.

Individuals and organisations now realise the significance of preserving resources as it helps us to lead better professional as well as personal lives. Today, builders and business owners are collaborating to build eco-friendly office complexes, tech-parks and zero-waste facilities. Even when the healthcare crisis is over, there can be no going back to the ‘old’ normal for office spaces. It will be upon us to shape its recovery and make the case for positive change as we build back better, and flex spaces possess a huge potential contribute towards an environmentally conscious workspace.

This story appeared in the 15 June, 2022 issue of Business Today and was originally published  at: Co-working spaces are leading the race for sustainability in real estate, Business Today
Co-working space provider Awfis opens new centre in Chennai

10 June 2022

Co-working space provider Awfis opens new centre in Chennai

  • Posted by Awfis Editorial

Co-working space provider Awfis has set up its new centre in the city, the seventh such facility, under its plan to strengthen presence pan-India, the company said on Friday.

The state-of-the-art facility, spread across 45,000 sq ft with 650 seats, is equipped with ‘cutting-edge’ infrastructure and has design in line with the company’s philosophy of creating space reflecting Indian culture.

Awfis currently has seven co-working centres in Chennai and the company plans to open four more centres by end of the year, a company statement said.

The new centre is part of the company’s premium workspace offering — Awfis Gold — which aims to deliver an unparalleled workplace experience to the company’s clientele.

”..we have realigned our offerings to meet the requirements of the workforce in line with the new reality. Our continuous expansion in Chennai is a testament to the ever-increasing demand for shared workspaces across clients…”, Awfis founder-CEO Amit Ramani said.

Awfis clientele in Chennai comprises of start-ups, small and medium enterprises and multi-national companies. Some of the brands that have taken space with Awfis includes Sony Pictures, Suzuki, Lenovo, Practo, WayCool among others.

This story appeared in the 10 June, 2022 issue of Business Today: Co-working space provider Awfis opens new centre in Chennai: 

50% demand for our co-working spaces now from large MNCs: Awfis CEO Amit Ramani

04 February 2022

50% demand for our co-working spaces now from large MNCs: Awfis CEO Amit Ramani

  • Posted by Arathy Nair

The demand from large MNCs for co-working spaces has shot up to 50% of Delhi-headquartered Awfis Space Solutions’ total pie over the past 12 months amid increased flexibility demand from employees even as firms are unsure of the best hybrid work format, according to its Founder & CEO Amit Ramani.

“Pre-pandemic, 80% of our business used to come from SMEs and mid-sized corporate and startups who adopted flexible work to save costs and for better infrastructure. In the past 12 months, large occupiers have taken this on in a big way. Today, 50% of our demand comes from large occupiers which include companies from the top 100 MNCs in India and globally,” said Ramani at a virtual event on flexible workplaces organized by CII Maharashtra and ANAROCK Property Consultants on Friday.

He said the company sold in two months the number of seats it used to sell in a year. It’s a 6x jump, he added. The demand is also being driven from tier 2 cities as forward-thinking firms have realized many people in the workforce have migrated to smaller towns and chunk of the population may not return, he said.

“The demand is absolutely out of control. If I was in the developer community, I would be rushing to Indore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Kochi and Coimbatore to set up shop. I have a demand of 5,000 seats from a single operator in a city like Jaipur, whereas there are only four compliant office buildings in that city. The opportunity and supply-demand mismatch has never been this dramatic in any metro city. Tier 2 cities are going to be the next big story for all of us,” he said.

The CII-ANAROCK report ‘Workplaces of the Future unveiled at the event found that the revenue from the co-working spaces market will potentially double over the next five years at a CAGR of 15% as it is the preferred way to adopt the hybrid work model compared to options like changing existing office layouts or the hub-and-spoke model. Currently, there are 35 million square feet of flexible office space across the country. Of this, 71% or 25 million sq ft is by the large operators. Around 3.7 lakh flexible seats are currently spread across the major tier 1 and tier 2 cities of India.

This article was originally published on 3 December 2021 at : 50% demand for our co-working spaces now from large MNCs: Awfis CEO Amit Ramani – BusinessToday

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